When planning a summer visit to Northern New Mexico, be sure to check out Santa Fe’s roster of art and culture festivals. The summer months bring a wide variety of festivals and activities to Santa Fe. If you want to experience the true flavor of this historic and colorful city, we recommend including one of these outstanding festivals with your visit:

International Folk Art Market | Santa Fe, July 13-15

Santa Fe’s art markets are a unique opportunity to meet and mingle with artists and fellow art lovers beyond the city’s famed galleries and museums. This event is the world’s largest exhibition and sale by master folk artists, with close to 200 different artists from 53 countries. The festival offers a chance to view and purchase unique folk art from around the world while you enjoy international food, live music and art demonstrations. Artists earn an estimated $25 million at the market, which helps support their craft and communities. The International Folk Art Alliance produces the event and has expanded over the years to support artists and their communities around the world. The Alliance partners with local and international organizations, including UNESCO and the World Craft Council.

The 67th Annual Traditional Spanish Market, July 28-29

Each year in late July, Santa Fe welcomes hundreds of artists from New Mexico and Colorado to celebrate their unique work. Santa Fe’s annual Spanish Market is a celebration of Spanish Colonial artists who use traditional practices to create stunning woodwork, tinwork, straw appliqué and ironwork as well as pottery, jewelry, painting and hand-crafted furniture. Many of these artisanal styles date back 400 years. The Spanish Colonial Arts Society sponsors this event each year as a celebration of Santa Fe’s unique colonial history with its Spanish and Catholic influences. Enjoy live music and performances in Santa Fe’s historic plaza and a special Market Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. Food vendors will serve up international flavors, and the event offers art demonstrations and historical talks as well. Don’t miss the Friday night preview at Museo Cultural to view the best of the best and meet with artists before the sale starts Saturday and Sunday.

Santa Fe Indian Market, August 18-19

This celebration of Native arts attracts art collectors from all over the world. That’s not a surprise, considering this is the largest and oldest juried Native American art showcase in the world. The event features 900 artists from more than 200 tribes in the U.S. and Canada. The Indian Market originated as part of Fiesta de Santa Fe but has expanded into its own festival. The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA), a non-profit organization that promotes Native art and artists, arranges the event every year and the market continues to grow. Market-goers can meet artists and experience contemporary Native art and culture first-hand. You’ll find pottery, painting, sculpture, jewelry, basketry, textile weaving, beadwork and other contemporary and traditional art. The art market takes place on Santa Fe’s historic plaza and adjacent streets, where artists set up their wares and sell directly to the public.

Fiesta de Santa Fe, September 1-10

Founded in 1609, Santa Fe is older than the United States—in fact, it’s the oldest capital city in the country. Fiesta de Santa Fe is the city’s annual celebration of that history and the region’s many influences, including Native, Spanish, Mexican and Anglo cultures. This colorful celebration centers around a re-enactment of General Don Diego de Vargas’s peaceful re-conquest of the capital city in 1692. It features a parade for kids and a mix of religious celebrations, art, music, food and cultural events. One of the Fiesta’s most famous activities is the burning of “Zozobra” or “Old Man Gloom,” a 50-foot marionette that symbolizes the hardships and despair of the previous year. This annual celebration has been going on for no less than 300 years. Each year it’s produced by the hard work of the all-volunteer Santa Fe Fiesta Council with support from local businesses and civic organizations.

To get a true feel for the history and culture of Northern New Mexico, we highly recommend including a visit to one of Santa Fe’s colorful festivals on your trip to Inn on the Alameda.

To learn more about Santa Fe, or for help planning your trip to Santa Fe, visit our website.

Come join us for Thanksgiving at Inn on the Alameda! This savory feast includes your choice of delicious traditional favorites, including perfectly-roasted turkey with gravy, golden whipped potatoes and other side dishes, as well as assorted holiday pies.

We highly recommend exploring Santa Fe’s art museums while you are here, particularly the work of artists who lived and worked here. One such artist, Gustave Baumann, lived in Santa Fe for more than 50 years and became widely known and appreciated for his work in color woodblock prints.

Here in the Southwest region of the United States, we are blessed with a favorable climate, with generous sunshine and a rich cultural tradition of food, music, and dance. Flamenco is an especially vibrant form of dance – originally a product of the Andaluz region of Spain and popular here in Santa Fe. Flamenco has been in existence since the 16th century, but remains fresh and contemporary. This expressive art form involves guitars, percussion, and wildly colorful costumes. The dancing and music are vibrant, and emotionally stirring, and draw their influences from multinational roots: Arabs, Roma, Jews, and Moors.

While it’s easy to be swept up in the pageantry and color of the music and the athleticism of the dancing, flamenco also includes a rich storytelling element. The singing is as powerful as the instrument accompaniment – while also bringing a wistful element.

Juan Siddi Flamenco Company performs at the Maria Benitez Cabaret Theater at The Lodge in Santa Fe with special guests Nevarez and Jose Encinias www.arteflamencosociety.org.

Performance dates are Wednesdays – Sundays; July 13 – August 26, 2018

Another fantastic summer of flamenco performances at the Benitez Cabaret is set to begin in July as we welcome the inaugural season of EmiArteFlamenco in special collaboration with the National Institute of Flamenco!

This thrilling and passionate season features La Emi with special guests Nevarez y Jose Encinias, acclaimed guitarist Chuscales, and singers Jose Fernandez and Vicente Griego.

Tickets cost $20-$50 and can be purchased now through The Lensic Box Office at TicketsSantaFe.org or 505.988.1234. Group discounts (5 tickets or more) are available. Tickets will also be available at the door after 6:30 p.m.; doors open at 7:15 p.m. with shows starting at 8 p.m.

A second option is the Antonio Granjero and Entre Flamenco Company, https://www.entreflamenco.com. Individual ticket prices for each company are modestly priced, and range from $25 to $55. Ole!

After the show, the Inn on the Alameda provides the ideal atmosphere for winding down and relaxing with a light meal or after dinner drink. The Agogo Lounge serves from 5-9:30 pm daily. Our Southwest-appointed rooms reflect the rich culture of the region, while providing upscale amenities and a private balcony or patio for each room or suite. Located just two blocks from the Santa Fe plaza, the Inn on the Alameda is steps away from the best that Santa Fe offers.

For more information about the many entertainment options or our comfortable accommodations, check out our website or give us a call today.

This beautiful rural and rustic museum to the south of Santa Fe is a wonderful experience for the whole family. Anyone interested in livestock, farming, culture and living conditions during the early Southwest’s history will find this restored one-time caravanserai (from the Persian kārvānsarā, or Resting Place of Caravans), an accurate depiction of what historical life was like at this ranch. This camping or resting place, built in 1710 by Miguel Vega de Coca, was located just one final day’s journey from Santa Fe on the famous El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (The Royal Road to the Interior Land) – the original route from Mexico City to San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico. This is where our story about Rancho Los Golondrinas must begin.

In an earlier blog about New Mexico Statehood, I described the establishment of the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro by the Spanish Conquistador, Onate, who traveled north in the last years of the 16th Century from Mexico City to the interior lands. He and his small group of settlers followed ancient Native American trade routes towards present day New Mexico to colonize the unexplored land north of the Rio Bravo (present day Rio Grande River). Over the 2 centuries that followed, until the opening of the Santa Fe Trail from Missouri in the early 19th Century, El Camino Real was the sole trade and military route to the new Province of Nuevo Mexico. The route began in Mexico City, passing through the Mexican mining towns of Zacatecas and Durango up to El Paso, and finally Santa Fe.

Imagine the excitement of finally nearing Santa Fe – your final destination following a 6-month difficult, dusty and certainly uncomfortable trip! Here, one day away, was a place with water, feed for stock, food for weary travelers, and a place to bathe and pull out and clean your best clothes for your arrival the next day at the capital city of Santa Fe. Rancho Los Golondrinas was a true traveler’s paradise set among the cool cottonwoods of Caja del Rio.

If it were not for the Curtin-Paloheimo family, there would be no museum. This was the far sighted family which, in the 1930’s, bought the ranch with a preservationist’s vision. As part of that vision, The Museum was created to reconstruct and recreate what life was like in the 1700’s on a colonial Spanish ranch. Comparing it to its more famous cousin of Colonial Williamsburg is interesting. While both are “living museums,” I naturally preferred the relaxed Southwestern style of Los Golondrinas that embodies New Mexico. The historical recreation is done with more familiarity and approachability, and offers an informal view towards the past. The tradition of preservation continues today under the auspices of the Los Golandinas Foundation.

Many activities and exhibits embody the feel and look of the early New Mexico years, including: the restored acequias (irrigation ditches), the small flocks of sheep and their shepherds, the flour and corn grinding mills, the stables and outbuildings, barns and corals, original clothing and other activities of the early Spanish settlers. Be sure and visit the Museum during its annual Spring or Fall Festivals for the best experience. Canyon Road, near the Inn, shares the distinction of both the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro and Camino del Canon (Canyon Road) being originally Native American trails that the Spanish turned into their own routes.

While in the neighborhood, please stop in and spend the night refreshing yourself from your journeys at the peaceful and relaxing Inn on the Alameda, nestled in a beautiful, cottonwood-lined setting. No matter what time of year it is, a stay at the Inn is always a treasured experience – winter, spring, summer and fall.

For lovers of art and heritage, the upcoming weekend promises many delights, as the 61st annual Santa Fe Spanish Market swings into the Plaza. With 183 artists in the Market, and an additional 52 youth artists exhibiting their work, this is an artistic and familial legacy that continues to grow in size and quality.

Spanish Market on the Santa Fe Plaza

Taking place on the historic Plaza, on Saturday and Sunday, July 28 and 29, from 8:30 am to 5 pm, the Market offers something for everyone, from straw applique to retablos to engraving to weaving and calaveras, too. If we’re lucky, we might even see some of that beautiful and increasingly rare colcha embroidery!

Calaveras con Corazon

And if your taste runs more to the cutting edge, the Contemporary Hispanic Market runs concurrently, spread along both sides of Lincoln Avenue, with 134 booths of art and artistry to peruse or purchase.

There will be food, of course, since it’s Santa Fe, and among other tasty events, there’s a cooking class with John Vollertsen, “Spanish Influence on New Mexico’s Norteno Cooking,” at Las Cosas on July 26 at 10 am. And if you just can’t make time for that class, don’t forget that the Inn offers a Muy Sabrosa Cooking Experience with the experts from the Santa Fe School of Cooking, soon to be fully ensconced in their new location.

La Comida Muy Sabrosa!

Also on July 26, John Schaefer lectures on “Collecting Spanish Colonial Art” at Peyton Wright Gallery at 4:30 pm. On Friday July 27, at 9:30 am, Patina Gallery hosts a breakfast reception and lecture on the work of Enric Majoral. On Friday evening, a Market Preview opens at the Santa Fe Convention Center at 7 pm.

Listen for “la musica,” not only during the Saturday-Sunday Market itself. On Thursday, July 26, the Santa Fe Bandstand series gets into the act with homegrown favorites, Andy Primm and Alex Maryol, performing on the Plaza from 6 to 9 pm. Performances by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival take place in St. Francis Auditorium on Thursday, July 26 at noon and 6 pm, Friday, July 27 at 6 pm, Saturday, July 27 at 6 pm, and Sunday, July 28 at 5 pm. The Santa Fe Desert Chorale offers a concert, “Celebrating the Centenery,” at 8 pm on Saturday, July 28 at the New Mexico History Museum. The Santa Fe Opera serves up Giaochino Rossini’s Maometto II on Friday the 27th at 8:30 pm, and on Saturday the 28th, also at 8:30 pm, the premiere of Richard Strauss’ Arabella rounds out the season’s repertoire.

The holiday tradition of Las Posadas takes place on Sunday, December 11, at 5:30pm at the Palace of the Governors

So much of the holiday season seems so familiar and so relentlessly repetitive, and once-only experiences are becoming a rarity. That’s one of the reasons that Santa Fe loves Christmas Eve and the annual farolito display, a quietly moving spectacle that those who have come to the City Different over the holidays have no doubt seen.

Farolitos Light the Way

Less well-known, however, is the unique tradition known as Las Posadas, also a one-night-only event. A re-enactment of the Holy Family’s search for lodging, this annual holiday happening takes place each year in and around the historic Santa Fe Plaza. While the Plaza hardly looks Biblical, having already been lit with holiday lights and a Christmas tree, and the staging includes some details not found in the usual account, the story nonetheless comes to life in a very local way.

The Santa Fe Plaza Dressed in Snow

Originating in Spain as a religious observation, Las Poasadas is actually a novena, a nine-day event, occurring from December 16 through December 24. Although celebrations of Las Posadas are not uncommon in Northern New Mexico towns, places deeply rooted in the Spanish Catholic tradition, the one-night Plaza re-enactment grew out of a 1970’s era neighborhood campaign against development that sparked an annual celebration, which subsequently outgrew its original San Antonio Street location and moved to the Plaza.

Costumed participants portray the mortals who, in the biblical account, refuse lodging to a humble young pregnant woman and her carpenter-fiancé. As the couple circumnavigate the Plaza from the Palace of the Governors (the oldest government building in the U.S.), seeking rest and shelter, they stop on each corner to seek lodging and comfort, finding instead denial and disappointment.

Taking Off Winter’s Chill by a Luminaria at the Palace of the Governors

The devil, who ridicules and taunts the seekers from perches on the portals on the Plaza, is in turn treated to the boos and hisses of the assembled crowd, their faces illuminated by candle light. The supernatural power possessed by the devil purportedly allows him to magically appear at each of the Plaza locations designated as the “inns” where the couple tries to obtain a warm and dry spot in which to shelter. Four mortals portray the tormenting demon, crawling out of second-floor windows to discourage the weary travelers.

After numerous refusals stating that there was no room at “the inn,” thanks to the appearance of an angel who blesses the crowd and provides guidance, the couple and their entourage finally find respite from the chilly night in the courtyard of the Palace of the Governors for the denouement of this holiday event. Once inside the courtyard, the procession warms up with hot cider, cookies, and a round of Christmas carols.

Sound interesting? It is! Just be sure to bundle up, since the winter Santa Fe weather has definitely arrived, and it’s nothing like Bethlehem temperatures. This year, Las Posadas takes place on Sunday, December 11, 2011, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Please note that the New Mexico Museum of History will close early at 3:00 p.m. to prepare for and accommodate this holiday tradition.

The Night of Las Posadas by Tomie dePaola

And if you cannot attend, you can still create a special holiday reading tradition, thanks to noted author/illustrator, Tomie dePaolo, proof that an unusual event like this is indeed inspirational!

Summer in Santa Fe is the time of year when we celebrate the deep Hispanic roots of La Ciudad Diferente. It’s a satisfying experience to encounter a place that honors its traditional arts and, at the same time, celebrates the ingenuity of those artistic descendants who are drawn to more contemporary expressions of the heritage.

Spanish Town, Spanish Names!

Spanish Market means many things to many people. For some, it’s enough to enjoy the festive appearance of the Plaza, dressed up to remind us of the enduring legacy of the conquistadors and settlers who braved the ardors of the New World. For others, it may be the food, rich and spicy, tantalizing the taste buds with the thought of fresh green chile yet to come. For most, however, especially steadfast Santa Fe visitors who return annually at this time, it’s the opportunity to see how the artistic heritage of the past lives on today through the hands and the talents of over 200 artists. Delicate straw applique and colcha embroidery are crafts may have waxed and waned through the years, but thanks to a number of dedicated artisans, one can still encounter these humble traditional art-forms today. Painstakingly painted retablos and hand-carved bultos never go out of style, as befits an aesthetic so thoroughly entwined with its religious roots. And the weavers will be there to remind us that the heat of summer will soon enough be followed by the appeal of soft, warm wool.

Intricate Colcha Embroidery: Museum of New Mexico Collection

Presented by the Spanish Colonial Arts Society, Spanish Market is making its 60th anniversary appearance on the Santa Fe Plaza over the weekend of July 30-31. Market hours on Saturday are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; on Sunday, the Market runs from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. In conjunction with the Arts Market itself, chock-a-block with both familiar and new faces, a special Market Mass will be celebrated at our gorgeously renovated St. Francis Cathedral Basilica at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, July 31, at which time the public is invited to the join in the blessing of the Spanish Market art and its artisans. After the blessing, a procession begins at the Cathedral and winds around the Plaza, led by a cheerful Mariachi band.

The Beautiful Reredo at St. Francis Cathedral

There are a few informative events celebrating the Spanish heritage that will also take place over the weekend. On Thursday, July 28 at 5:30 p.m., a free “Layman’s Lecture About the Saints” will take place at the historic Santuario de Guadalupe, located at 100 South Guadalupe Street. Lecturer Marina Ochoa, curator and archivist for the Office of Historic-Artistic Patrimony, Archives, and Museum of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe will discourse on the particularly meaningful saints depicted in many of the retablos and bultos one is likely to encounter at the Market.

Santa Fe’s purveyor of “todas cosas Espanolas,” The Spanish Table, located at 109 North Guadalupe Street, complements the weekend with two flavorful themed events to honor the Market. On Friday, July 29 at 12 noon, a Spanish sausage sampling complete with a lecture on how to make and cure your own Spanish-style sausages will be presented by Robert Fettig, with Flamenco guitarist Joaquin Gallegos on hand to provide an appropriate musical background. On Saturday, July 30, also at 12 noon, the staff at the Table will cook a gigantic Paella in front of the store. This is a great time to learn how to make this signature Spanish dish, and you can receive a recipe, ask questions and enjoy! Best of all, these events are also free to the public!

Paella? Muy Sabrosa!

Spicy Chorizo!

To enhance this rewarding arts weekend, Santa Fe also welcomes the 25th appearance of the Contemporary Hispanic Market, held adjacent to the Plaza on Lincoln Avenue and mirroring the hours of the Traditional Market. With 134 different booths, each featuring a different twist on the Hispanic arts, this is a multitude of riches in and of itself! Those who are drawn to use their talents in newer art forms appreciate this opportunity to exhibit, and both casual and serious collectors enjoy the chance to converse with some of New Mexico’s well-respected Hispanic artists. This display of contemporary Hispanic works showcases individual expression in the mediums of painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography, furniture, jewelry, ceramics, weaving and much, much more. In other words, this weekend is an artistic two-fer!!

Glorieta: Painting by Robb Rael

As with all of the summer Santa Fe Plaza events, the sun will likely be a constant visitor, so pay attention to our summer weather and dress accordingly. That’s the only caveat though, the rest of the weekend is yours to enjoy…or as we say aqui, bienvenidos y disfrutele mucho!